For a while now, director Gore Verbinski has been hovering around Disney’s new feature take on the tale of The Lone Ranger. According to Deadline, who first heard word of Verbinski’s possible involvement, rumor has become fact, and he will indeed be directing the movie.

We first heard of a new Lone Ranger movie in March of 2008, and later that year during a big Walt Disney event it was revealed that Johnny Depp was also involved, set to play the Ranger’s faithful sidekick, Tonto.

Verbinski directed the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy for Disney, but decided not to take on their upcoming fourth installment in the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, so that he could take on the proposed video game adaptation, BioShock. That project ended up having quite a few complications and Verbinski stepped away from it too to direct his animated feature, Rango, which also features the voice of Depp.

Now all that’s left to decide is who will team up with Depp to play the Lone Ranger himself. Any names you want to see grab that role?